Lawmakers from the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on Tuesday released six principles for bipartisan legislation on self-driving vehicles ahead of the committee’s hearing on the subject Wednesday afternoon.
Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Tuesday released six principles for bipartisan legislation on self-driving vehicles in advance of a Wednesday afternoon hearing on automated vehicle technology.
According to a statement from Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., John Thune, R-S.D., and Bill Nelson, D-Fla., any legislation surrounding the still-emerging technology should aim to “direct strong federal leadership that ensures safe self-driving vehicles on the road and reduces regulatory conflicts to the safe and rapid testing and deployment of this transformative technology.”
Safety is the utmost priority, and as with conventional vehicles, federal standards will be important to self-driving vehicle safety, said the senators.
In addition, federal policy will need to promote innovation and reduce roadblocks with new standards as current regulations do no directly address autonomous vehicles. Therefore, legislation must allow the life-saving safety benefits of self-driving vehicle technology to move forward while addressing incompatibility with old rules that were not written with self-driving vehicles in mind, they added.
The lawmakers said legislation must remain technology neutral and avoid favoring the business models of some developers of self-driving vehicles over others.
It should also define the role of federal and state regulation of self-driving vehicles, given that the traditional standards may not apply, they said. Traditionally, the federal government has regulated the vehicle itself, while states have regulated driver behavior.
Clarifying the responsibilities of federal and state regulators will protect the public and prevent conflicting laws and rules from stifling this new technology, according to the senators.
And given the amount of new technology within the vehicles, Peters, Thune and Nelson said cybersecurity should also be a top priority for manufacturers of self-driving vehicles to prevent potential compromised safety.
Finally, the legislation must educate the public to ensure they understand the differences between conventional and self-driving vehicles, review consumer education models for self-driving vehicles, and address how companies can inform the public on what self-driving vehicles can and cannot do based on their level of automation and their individual capabilities, said the Commerce committee members.
While there is no date or deadline for the legislation introduction, the senators said they will continue efforts to finalize legislation.
“Self-driving vehicle technology will have a transformational impact on highway safety,” said Thune, chairman of the Senate committee. “Working on a bipartisan basis, we continue to make progress in writing what we expect will become the first ever changes in federal law helping usher in this new transportation era. These principles underscore our commitment to prioritizing safety, fixing outdated rules, and clarifying the role of federal and state governments.”
“Self-driving vehicles will not only dramatically change how we get from place to place, they have the potential to prevent accidents and save thousands of lives,” added Peters. “I’m pleased we have compiled this bipartisan framework, which is an important step toward introducing and enacting meaningful legislation that will help the federal government promote the safe development and adoption of self-driving vehicles and ensure the United States remains the world leader in transportation innovation.”
Alden Woodrow, senior product manager of self-driving trucks at Uber Advanced Technologies Group, highlighted pertinent issues within the autonomous vehicle industry at the eyefortransport 3PL Summit in Chicago on Wednesday.
In Uber’s view, autonomous trucks will only supplement driver-based trucking in the near term, rather than replace it, as the technology surrounding driverless vehicles is still very limited.
According to Woodrow, who spoke in place of recently departed self-driving tech executive Anthony Lewandoski, said the “economics of building the self-driving technology” are not clear at the moment. The inputs, such as sensors and lasers and mapping, for example, are very expensive currently, but he said he believes they will eventually get to the point where they are less expensive than buying a traditional rig and paying the driver inside it.
Further, the “efficiency of self-driving trucks” and “being involved in fewer accidents than human drivers” add to the value of autonomous vehicle technology, he said.
Woodrow went on to say that currently, the self-driving product being built is being significantly constrained by Uber engineers on purpose. The company is focusing almost entirely on making the technology viable on open highway, long haul-type routes, and not in-city, last-mile applications, where there are far more stops and unforeseen obstacles, furthering the idea that autonomous vehicles will only supplement, not replace, driver-based trucks.
Senators look to steer policy on autonomous vehicles
